The present invention relates to a moving sidewalk for transporting passengers safely and quickly even for a relatively long distance.
In general, the normal moving sidewalk traveling at the speed of 30 m/min. or 40 m/min. has a problem that it travels too slow and thus it takes too long for passenger transportation when located at the places such as the airport.
Therefore, a new type of moving sidewalk that moves slowly when the passenger gets on and off, and moves at a high speed at the midsection has been craved for, and a moving sidewalk as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.75594/1990 is proposed.
That is, FIG. 2 shows a schematic drawing of a moving sidewalk constructed of a plurality of endless circulating belts, which was shown in the patent publication described above, and FIG. 3 is partially enlarged view of the moving sidewalk shown in FIG. 2.
The reference numerals 2 and 2xe2x80x2 designate an independent module in which a very thin and very flexible endless sliding belt 20 passes below a pair of guide rollers 2b and driven by the driving rollers 2c at a constant speed. The module 2 which is to be located near the entrance and the exit of the moving sidewalk, for example, is set to travel at a low speed and the modules 2xe2x80x2 which are located away from the entrance and the exit of the moving sidewalk are set in such a manner that the speed increases with the distance from the entrance and from the exit of the moving sidewalk, so that the speed of transportation increases or decreases gradually every time when the passenger moves from one module to the adjacent module (2, 2xe2x80x2).
In other words, the module 2 includes a loading-unloading belt, and the module 2xe2x80x2 includes an accelerating-decelerating belt.
The reference numeral and sign 2a designates extra small rollers of a small size such as 30 mm to 70 mm in diameter, which are placed at a distance at both ends of each module 2 or 2xe2x80x2, and the effective clearance between the adjacent portions of the upper track is determined to be a smaller size than the infant""s shoes, such as 20 mm to 40 mm.
The reference numeral and sign 2d designates a T-shaped transporting plate disposed in the clearance between the adjacent pair of modules 2 or 2xe2x80x2, so that the upper surface is situated at the lower level than the upper surface of the endless sliding belt 20, which is described to be possible to be omitted when the circulating speed of the endless sliding belt is high.
The reference numeral and sign 2e designates a sliding plate that supports and guides the upper track of the endless sliding belt 20, and the reference numeral 27 designates a long main circulating belt that constructs the center portion of the moving sidewalk that is located in the vicinity of the high-speed module 2xe2x80x2 and moves at a highest speed.
However, such a variable-speed moving sidewalk has a fundamental problem as follows.
That is, the passenger is directly affected by the difference of the speed when he or she gets on the endless sliding belt running at the different speed, and has a feeling of fear by being stumbled or staggered about.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to present a variable-speed moving sidewalk that not only transports the passenger smoothly, but also gives no feeling of fear to the passenger, based on the basic test conducted by the use of an experimental model.
With the circumstance described above in view, the present invention provides a methodology for setting the speed of each belt of the variable-speed moving sidewalk of belt transit type and the number of connecting belts, and a variable-speed moving sidewalk that can be obtained by this methodology.
In order to achieve the object described above, the present invention is constructed in the manner as follows.
(1) In a moving sidewalk comprising loading-unloading belts and one or more of accelerating-decelerating belt(s) independently provided in front and in the rear of the main circulating belt, wherein the traveling speed of the loading-unloading belt and of the accelerating-decelerating belt are determined to decrease with the decreasing distance to the entrance and the exit thereof, and thus to increase with the decreasing distance to the main circulating belt, and the traveling speed of the main circulating belt is faster than both of these belts, the speeds of the belts adjacent with each other are determined in such a manner that the difference between squares of these speeds does not exceed the prescribed value. In order to achieve the object of giving no feeling of fear to the passenger, the lower limit of the difference between squares of these two speeds is not specially specified. However, when it is too small, the entire speed becomes too slow, whereby a variable-speed mechanism makes no sense to employ. Therefore, it is practically defined to be a prescribed value or higher.
(2) In a moving sidewalk having loading-unloading belts disposed independently in front and in the rear of the main circulating belt, the speeds of the main circulating belt and the loading-unloading belt are set so that the difference between squares of these speeds does not exceed the prescribed value.
In (1) and (2), the specific value of the prescribed value that is to be the upper limit of the difference between squares of the speeds may be about 1600 as a guideline. Though the lower limit is not specially limited as described above, it can be the value such as about 900 or more.
The prescribed value to be the upper limit of the difference between squares of the speeds described above may be different between the accelerating side and the decelerating side, and in such a case, the value of the accelerating side is preferably smaller than that of the decelerating side.
(3) In designing of a moving sidewalk comprising loading-unloading belts and one or more of accelerating-decelerating belt(s) independently provided in front and in the rear of the main circulating belt, wherein the traveling speed of the loading-unloading belt and of the accelerating-decelerating belt are determined to decrease with the decreasing distance to the entrance and the exit thereof, and thus to increase with the decreasing distance to the main circulating belt, and the traveling speed of the main circulating belt is faster than both of these belts, the number of the accelerating-decelerating belts to be provided is determined based on the relation between the difference between squares of the speeds of the adjacent belts and the sense of xe2x80x9cfearxe2x80x9d of the passenger (a law of the difference between squares of the speeds, described later).
More specifically, the number of the accelerating-decelerating belt described above is determined so that the difference between squares of the speeds of the respective belts adjacent with each other falls within the prescribed range. The prescribed range may be, for example, about 900 to 1600.